


A Different Type of Heat

by waterbird13



Series: Empathic Responses [5]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Caregiving, Gen, M/M, No Sex, Parental Tony, first heat, heat - Freeform, non sexual heat, pack bonds, questioning societal norms, soothing Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:40:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24339028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterbird13/pseuds/waterbird13
Summary: May goes silent, suspiciously so after her panic. “Tony, I know you want to help, but I—he’s so young.”It takes Tony a moment to process that. Then it takes him another moment to calm down. It’s not May’s fault that she’s a beta who married a beta and who’s trying to raise an omega, and that most of the readily available information out there sucks.Hell, public school health classes—with omegas in the class!—are still shitty fonts of inaccurate information. It’s not May’s fault.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Empathic Responses [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1161500
Comments: 11
Kudos: 498





	A Different Type of Heat

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everyone!
> 
> This is something I always thought fit into this verse, but was a bit leery of. After all, fic portrays heat as inherently very very sexual. ER is insistant that it's not, necessarily, and that it's more about connections and cementing pack bonds. But then I went and wrote an entire smutty one shot of Tony's first heat post Infinity War, sooo...
> 
> That's all to say that this is Peter's first heat. He's seventeen, and none of this is sexual at all (even if those misconceptions are present and discussed). This is set during Empathic Responses, in that time jump between when Tony starts working on the alpha voice blockers and actually gets them implemented. Maybe it should have been part of the fic, but I wasn't prepared to handle it then, and it would have messed with the pacing for sure.
> 
> That all to say, this is a very gentle, parental, caregiving time. Tony and May and Bucky are stressed, because this is a kid who is very important to them in distress, and society says a lot of shit. That all said, they get their shit together and take care of Peter.
> 
> Nothing sexual happens here. Let me make that very clear. The idea of heats being sexual is present because it's previously been presented as such a prevalent view in their society, but that's not what this is about.
> 
> Anyways, this is just a chance for Tony to be a doting Dad, basically. 
> 
> All that said, I hope you enjoy.

Tony’s just finishing up in the lab when the phone call comes.

“Hey, May, what can I—“

“Tony? Tony? I—“

Tony has the suit at the ready within seconds. Fuck the law. He’s going over. “May, what’s going on? Is someone…do you need the team?”

She takes a deep, shaky breath. “It’s Peter.”

“Is he hurt?”

“He…I’m pretty sure it’s his heat.” She moans. “Tony, he’s too young.”

_ Too young, too young,  _ it echoes like a chorus through Tony’s brain. Peter is young. A child still, and heats can suck and they are so often used to bring suffering and—

He shakes himself. Peter is young, but not so much younger than average that it would be statistically abnormal. Peter is enhanced, his senses and his hormones have been in overdrive for a while. This makes sense.

He takes a deep, deep breath, then holds it before breathing out. Peter will be okay.

He will.

“May, take a deep breath with me,” he instructs. “Tell me what’s going on.”

May starts listing off symptoms—sweaty, spacey, uncomfortable in his own skin, and it definitely sounds like a heat. “Alright, May. We can handle this.”  _ Peter _ can handle this. “I’ll be over in half an hour.” He checks his watch. It’s almost four, and traffic will be miserable.

Doesn’t matter. He’ll fly there, take that up with the UN, before he leaves Peter alone.

May goes silent, suspiciously so after her panic. “Tony, I know you want to help, but I—he’s so  _ young _ .”

It takes Tony a moment to process that. Then it takes him another moment to calm down. It’s not May’s fault that she’s a beta who married a beta and who’s trying to raise an omega, and that most of the readily available information out there  _ sucks _ .

Hell, public school health classes—with  _ omegas in the class!— _ are still shitty fonts of inaccurate information. It’s not May’s fault.

Tony needs to be the reasonable adult here. He takes a deep breath. “May,  _ listen to me _ . I am not coming to have sex with your nephew.” Tony winces just saying it. It’s not illegal, but only because Peter is an omega who has now had his first heat. It should be illegal. At any rate, Tony’s disgust goes far beyond legality. “That’s not what omegas  _ do _ together during heats. Well, I mean, I shouldn’t speak for all of us, I’m sure some do—”  _ Not helping _ , his brain manages to interrupt, and Tony shuts his mouth. “Listen to me. Peter is young, but he’s not too young. Peter will be okay. Okay? He just needs people. This isn’t about sex.” He gives that a moment to sink in. He knows what the common perception is. “This is about connections. And right now, Peter needs the people he cares about.”

“Tony. What do I do?” She sounds slightly more grounded, like he’s getting through to her.   


“Make him comfortable,” Tony says, already moving to his and Bucky’s room, trying to put together a bag. “Soft things, get him some water. He’s probably overheated, if you have a fan or something he’ll appreciate it. I’m on my way.”

“Should he stay here?”

“Where else would he go, May?” Tony asks, trying to keep his voice even. May isn’t kicking Peter out, he knows it in his soul, but Tony’s seen too much shit.

“Should he come to you? It’s probably…safer, there.” She pauses for a minute. “There’s a handful of alphas in our building.”

Tony pauses a moment, considers it, but shakes his head. “No. Peter will be more comfortable in his own room, surrounded by his stuff. I mean, he has a place here and if he wants to come here, I’ll get you two here. But he’s probably more comfortable in his own room, and doesn’t want to move. He’ll be safe there.”

“How can you know that?”   


“Because I’ll fucking shoot them, May. If any alpha gets too close to Peter, I’ll kill them.” His bag is ready to go, and he’s already heading for the garage.

Bucky’s in the main room, and cocks his head when he hears Tony. Tony doesn’t stop to explain though, so Bucky just follows.

Which reminds Tony… “And if I can’t, if I’m too busy or unable, Bucky damn sure will.”

May makes a noise of objection. “Tony…Tony he’s an alpha.”

It’s  _ Bucky’s _ turn to make a wounded noise, damn his super soldier hearing. He doesn’t say anything though. Doesn’t argue. 

“May, I  _ promise _ you Bucky is safe.” He closes his eyes for a second, because  _ holy shit, when did they get here?  _ “I promise you he won’t hurt Peter, and I’d guess Peter wants him there, because they’re close and Peter will want his people. It’s an omega thing, trust me, we want our people nearby, at the very least. If Bucky makes him uncomfortable, he’ll leave. No questions asked.” It’s not a question, but Bucky nods rapidly in response anyways. “And May? I meant what I said. Anyone gets in Peter’s space without Peter inviting them? Anyone tries to hurt him? I’ll fucking kill them. And that goes for  _ anyone. _ ” He doesn’t look at Bucky as he says it. Means it, even as he doesn’t really think it needs to be said.

“Tony, I…what do I do?”

“Go give him a hug, May. Bring him a glass of water. Some food if you can. And give him a hug. Don’t open the door for anyone until we get there. Okay?”

“Okay,” she says softly. “I…okay.”

Tony pushes the car as hard as he can, which unfortunately isn’t much as the traffic picks up. It does leave them time to talk.

“If Peter wants contact, like…like you did, then I’ll give him a hug,” Bucky says softly. “But I won’t go in.”

“An alpha might help him feel better, honestly,” Tony warns. He’d had Rhodey for his first heat, far too young, neither of them knowing what to do. He can’t say for certain that Rhodey being an alpha  _ helped _ like the science says it’s supposed to, but it hadn’t hurt.

When had Bucky become the  _ other _ only good alpha, practically on Rhodey’s level in his mind?

Bucky shakes his head. “Not like I’ll be far, if he needs…feelings or scent or pheromones or whatever. I’ll watch the door. Keep  _ that  _ part of me satisfied. Probably ease May’s mind a bit, too.” He shoots a side of glance at Tony. “And I will shoot anyone who gets too close.”

Tony gives a tight nod. “It’ll be fine. Omegas…omegas go into heat all the time.”

“But very few of them are your kid.”

“Yeah, well. I might not necessarily know how to do this right, but I know how not to do it wrong, mostly. He’ll get through it.”

Bucky clasps Tony’s knee, just for a second.

Tony calls when they arrive at the apartment. “It’s us, you can let us in.”

It takes a few minutes for the door to unlock. May’s frowning, eyes darting to the side like she wants nothing more than to turn around. “He’s clingy.”

“He will be.”

Bucky moves a kitchen chair by the door, then locks it behind them. “I won’t go in his room,” Bucky says softly. “That’s his place right now. But if he wants me I’m out here.”

And with that, he sits himself in front of the door, his body between anyone else and them. Tony doesn’t see a weapon, but he knows Bucky has at least one and doesn’t need one to be deadly anyways.

“Tony? Bucky?”

Poor Peter sounds  _ wrecked _ already, hazy and worn out, like his body is running a marathon without his permission. “Hey, Pete.”

“I…Tony, I don’t feel great.”

Tony feels a pang of sympathy, and he steps forward. “What can I do for you, kiddo?”   


“I…I don’t know. I…I need…I…”

“Want a hug?” Tony asks. He doesn’t mean to push what he thinks will work on the kid, but Peter seems so genuinely lost.

It seems to be the right suggestion, because Peter nods and falls forward, grabbing onto Tony, burying his face in Tony’s shoulder. Exchanging scents, so Tony will smell like him and he’ll smell just a bit like Tony. 

Peter stays for a good few minutes, and then lets go only to collapse onto Bucky, who takes him with shaky arms but doesn’t let him fall. “Got’cha, kid.”

Peter repeats the process he had with Tony. Tony watches Bucky the whole time. He looks concerned, and a little stressed, but not in the way alphas are supposedly supposed to react to an omega in heat.

Tony’s always  _ known _ it was so much bullshit. It’s a pity he can’t really publish a scientific study on Bucky.

Taking pity on Bucky, who is rubbing the kid’s back and clearly getting a little overwhelmed by Peter being overwhelmed, Tony takes the kid back. “C’mon, let’s get you comfortable, huh?”   


So he guides Peter back to his bedroom, which looks about the same as the last time Tony was in here—years ago, now—only with a different pile of discarded clothes, a nicer computer set-up, and a whole lot of rumpled blankets.

Soft enough, Tony figures. For a kid with his senses dialed up to eleven, that will matter to Peter over the next few days.

May follows them and sits at the computer chair, knocking clothes out of the way as she does, and Tony doesn’t know if he’s relieved having her here for this next bit or not. “You know what’s happening?”

Peter nods, his head loose and slow. “I—Yeah. Heat.”   


“Yup,” Tony confirms. “You know what that means?” 

Peter might  _ not _ , which is the truly horrifying thing. He might never have been taught, and May clearly wasn’t equipped to give him the best information, not based on their conversation from earlier.

Tony should have sat down and done this. He knew the world, he knew how old Peter is, how he’s growing up.  _ Fuck _ , he’s a loser for leaving the kid hanging like this, just to protect himself from an awkward conversation.

“Means I’m hot.” Peter takes a moment to process what he just said, but a slow, slightly dopey smile spreads across his face, and he laughs softly.

Tony chuckles. “Yeah, sure, kid. You’ve definitely got a fever. But I think it’s gone down since I got here, and if we keep you well taken care of and surrounded by people, it’ll be manageable.” So Peter’s feeling the heat, which explains the basketball short casual attire. He’s clearly a fair bit loopy, scatter-brained and a little slow. 

All in all, a pretty typical heat.

“Anything else, kid?” Itchy skin, an unsettled feeling, tiredness, an inability to focus—those are all symptoms Tony knows to look for.

“Aren’t I supposed to be horny?”

Tony fights between a smile and a grimace, because, on the one hand, the kid with even less filter than normal could be a lot of fun. On the other, May makes a little groaning sound and hides her head in her hands, and Tony’s sure they’re reigniting every bad stereotype she’s ever been taught.

May probably—definitely—had the talk with Peter at some point, and Peter’s a child of the internet age, he can figure most things out on his own, as long as he doesn’t want readily-available accurate information about his body as an omega.

Tony takes a deep breath. He can do this. “Do you  _ feel _ horny, Peter?”

He might. Tony is an expert at using sex and masturbation to get through heats, because of how closely it simulates the connection the body is pushing for. A heat  _ can _ make an omega horny, even if it isn’t truly all about sex. If Peter really wants to handle things that way, Tony will bow out and hopefully distract May for a while.

Peter shakes his head though. “I…I feel…I’m tired, Mr. Stark.”   


Tony strokes the kid’s slightly sweaty hair off his face. “That’s okay, Pete. You can sleep. We’ll be here when you wake up.”

Peter gives him a soft smile. “‘Kay.”

Once the kid is dead asleep, Tony sits up, although he keeps a hand on Peter, hoping the contact with him will keep him asleep a little longer. He jerks his head, gesturing for May to come over, and then uses his free hand to guide her hand into Peter’s hair. 

“This it?” She asks softly.

“Maybe.” Maybe not. “He have anyone else he’d want to be here? People he trusts?”   


Her brow furrows. “Maybe his friends? MJ and Ned? I don’t…I don’t know, I don’t know if I want them around him right now, but…”

“We can ask him, when he wakes up.” Tony rubs over Peter’s arm. “Here’s the bottom line: all Peter’s brain wants right now is to know it’s part of a pack. There are a dozen ways to go about doing that, and I imagine different omegas have different ways that work best for them. And you know what our general social consensus is on the  _ best way _ ,” he says with a little sneer. “Bottom line, for Peter, though? He’s a kid. Plus, he did seem to steady a bit once he had more of us here.”

It’s true. Peter’s settled down into sleep, and his fever has definitely seemed to drop. While Tony wouldn’t trust Peter to operate heavy machinery or make any serious decisions right now, especially given that the hormones of a first heat must be hammering him, he’s probably more clear-headed and stable than he was before.

He won’t stay asleep forever, though. “Our goal when he wakes up is to get him to remember to eat,” Tony says. “If you’re okay with it, Bucky’ll cook. He likes cooking.” And it’ll probably have the added benefit of soothing Bucky a bit, who can’t be handling this well. He’s an alpha around a distressed, in-heat omega he definitely considers part of his pack, not to even mention the Winter Soldier thing he had going on last time Tony was in heat. But Bucky’s expressed multiple times that providing food and his alpha instincts get all tied up together, so hopefully being able to give Peter—and to a maybe lesser extent, Tony and May—a meal would soothe him.

He gets up, which Peter mumbles a bit about in his sleep, but May, catching on, lies down next to him, wrapping her nephew in her arms.

He doesn’t go too far, just leaning against Peter’s door jamb, studying Bucky still in that kitchen chair by the door. “How do you feel about seeing what you can scrounge up for dinner?”

“May allergic to anything?”

“Oysters,” May says behind him. “But there’s not exactly any in the apartment.”

Bucky nods. He props the chair under the door handle, holding it shut, and goes to the kitchen and starts opening cabinets and the fridge, pulling stuff out.

Tony takes a look back at the kid. Still sleeping, and May is wrapped around him tight. He’ll be okay without Tony for a bit.

“You okay?” Tony asks, voice low as he draws closer to Bucky.

Bucky stops work long enough to turn to Tony. His shoulders are tense, and there’s definitely a tension around his eyes. “Yeah. You?”

“You don’t look okay.”

“I’ll be okay. It’s a lot, and the Soldier don’t like this much.”

“Omega in heat?”   


“Scared kid. Our. Our scared little kid,” Bucky says, and something inside Tony seizes up at that, words failing him, breath practically choked.

Bucky acts like he doesn’t know what he said for a minute, but then he gives up the pretense and looks Tony dead in the eye. “Maybe it’s just overbearing alpha instincts talking, but—”

“No,” Tony interrupts. “He’s…he’s Peter. He’s special.”

Something in Bucky relaxes, his scent softening, which allows Tony to relax too. “Yeah. And we’ll all be fine. When he wakes up, I bet he’ll be fine, ‘cause he’s got you and May both now.”

“And you.”   


Bucky pre-heats the oven. “Sure. And me.” He turns back to Tony. “So. Are you okay?”

Tony’s been around other omegas in heat before, remembers his own heats, and it’s never exactly a soothing process, but he holds his own just fine.

But this one…this one is something else. Maybe because Peter’s young, maybe because May’s been so scared. Maybe because Peter is  _ his _ in a way no one else ever has been before, or likely will be again. 

“I need to…I need to…” He gestures hopelessly at the bedroom behind him.

Bucky’s eyes go soft, and he leans forward to kiss Tony’s forehead. “Yeah, Doll, you go ahead. I’ll call you when this is done.”

When Bucky does call them, Peter wakes up, and he even insists on going to the table. Bucky doesn’t look happy about it at first, but he doesn’t protest when Peter goes for a round of hugs again, lingering on Bucky who, after all, hasn’t been cuddling him for the past few hours.

Peter looks better, at the table. Still clearly overrun and overheated, and fuzzy, but more at ease. 

Judging by him eating, he probably feels better, too. Something about that settles something inside of Tony, makes his own food go down a little easier.

After a while, Peter runs out of soda, and his face furrows as he tries to maneuver getting up and coordinating his movements.

Tony, thankfully, is faster. “I got it,” he says, snatching the glass and kissing the top of Peter’s head as he moves past. “Got’cha, Pete.”

Some pack instinct, buried in their evolutionary code, maybe. The heat incapacitates the omega, letting the pack prove how much they care, how they work together. 

How many thousands of times has Tony heard that omegas are the center of the pack?

He returns with another glass of Sprite for the kid, puts it in front of him and rubs over his shoulders quickly. “You want anything else?”   


Peter’s brow furrows. “Wasn’t I supposed to come over this weekend?”

“Yeah.” 

“And watch movies?” 

“Mhm.”

“Can we still do that?”   


“Sure, Petey. Who do you want to watch movies with?”

“You guys. And Ned and MJ. Maybe...maybe Rhodey? If that’s okay.”

Bucky raises an eyebrow. “You sure? I don’t have to be there, if you don’t want. I can wait outside.”   


Peter shakes his head, though. “Want my…want my family there.”

Tony imagines he’s not the only one present choking on tears a little bit. “May, think you can get his friends here?”

It’s a school night, Tony realizes belatedly, but apparently that doesn’t matter to Ned and MJ, two kids he’s only met a few times, but who Peter apparently loves with his whole heart. And that’s a lot of love to give.

Rhodey joins them too, and if Tony worried about another alpha in the space causing problems, he shouldn't have. Sure, Bucky and Rhodey side-eye each other for half a minute, but by the time Peter pulls Rhodey into a hug, everyone seems settled.

They ditch the couch, making a pile of pillows and blankets on the floor, all of them, wrapped around Peter and giving him contact, except the few times where he flares up and gets too hot and needs a minute.

“So, is this  _ all _ your heats?” Ned asks, insensitive and sweet and currently letting Peter use his shoulder as a pillow. “‘Cause, dude, this is pretty chill. I think you were worried for nothing, here.”

Tony’s heart aches. His kid was worried. He wonders if Peter knew this was coming, sensed it, or if it was just general anxiety. Either way, he never came to Tony.

Tony drags a hand down his kid’s spine and resolves to talk to him when this is all over.

Peter’s friends and Rhodey eventually get shoo’d out by May, so they can sleep, and Tony and May then work Peter back to bed, after another round of hugs. Tony gets a glimpse of Bucky setting up at the door again, before Peter manages to almost take him down with a stumbling step.

“Easy, easy.”   


Peter’s bed isn’t big enough for three, and Tony makes a note of that. Heats are going to be a thing, and Peter will have at least a few more here before he leaves home, so he’ll need a bigger bed, because Tony and May are going to be there with him, come hell or high water or long-limbed teenagers taking up almost all the bed space.

They make it work, though. 

The next few days go pretty much the same. Sleep, food, and Peter’s friends after school. They bring Peter’s homework, but Tony takes it and leaves it to the side. He’s done his fair share of work in heat before, and it’s possible but not comfortable. Let Peter relax and get through this.

On the fourth day, Peter wakes up without a fever. He’s steadier on his feet and tracking the conversation far better. “Think you’re done, kiddo?”  
“Mhm.”

“Well, good. Let’s see what Bucky’s got going for breakfast, huh?”   
  


Bucky, it turns out, makes pancakes, huge stacks that Peter’s enhanced metabolism decimates. But it’s about the last of the food, so Bucky offers to go grocery shopping and then May’s fussing about it, so somehow they work it out and the two of them end up going together.

Tony’s not paying too much attention, other than to know where people are. He accepts Bucky’s goodbye kiss and slips him an extra kiss, just because, before sending him out the door.

“I need a shower,” Peter announces, which is, yes, true. Teenage boys just smell. Teenage boys who have barely showered in days and who have been running a fever the whole time positively reek. So Tony washes the dishes and lets Peter go get himself cleaned up.

When Peter emerges, clean and changed, Tony gestures him over to the couch. The others aren’t back yet, which is good, because Tony doesn’t ever want to step on May’s toes, but there’s some conversations that maybe just exist between omegas.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better.”

“That’s good. How…how was it?”   


“Not as bad as I thought.” Peter hesitates a minute, ducking his head, before admitting, “I was really scared, Tony.”   


Tony feels the ache deep inside, and reaches out to touch the kid, hand landing on his shoulder. “I bet. Why…why didn’t you come to me?”   


Peter flushes. “It’s embarrassing.”

“A heat isn’t something to be embarrassed about,” Tony says firmly. But society has certainly made it that way, a time of shame and sex and total submission, and Tony hates them once again for the very real consequence, a scared and confused kid, right in front of him. “I’m serious, Peter. Don’t be embarrassed about your heats. It’s just your body, doing what it does. Evolutionary quirk, bringing packs closer together. Is it fun? Not really. But it’s not shameful.”   


Peter manages a small smile. “It wasn’t too bad, honestly.”

“Yeah? I’m glad, Pete. But, listen. Even if it is embarrassing. Whatever it is, I don’t care. You can come to me.”

Peter is just barely seventeen. There are plenty of embarrassing things coming up for the kid, but Tony wants him to know that Tony isn’t just…just a fair-weather pseudo-parent. He’s here for it all.

Hell, he’s lived more than his fair share of embarrassing shit. He can sit through Peter’s.

“Whether that’s heats, or anything else,” Tony says firmly. “I’m there. You call, and I’ll pick up, okay? You come by, I let you in. No questions asked.”

Peter ducks closer, leaning into his side. “Thanks, Tony,” he murmurs. He’s silent for a few minutes, but then asks, “are all heats…like that?”

Tony swallows. No. No, some heats are ugly and brutal and don’t bare mentioning. Some are just painful and lonely. And even though Tony will die before he lets Peter have any of the heat horror stories he’s heard about, experienced, seen, that doesn’t mean they’ll all be like this.

Someday, Peter and Ned and MJ will go to college. Peter’s pack will shift. His priorities might shift, too, and someday he might want to spend his heat connecting in an entirely different way.

He doesn’t say that, though, just runs a hand through Peter’s hair. “May, and Bucky, and I, we’ll always be there for you,” he says. “We’ll look out for you.”  
It’s good enough, he supposes. And besides, Tony’s all about the future. Maybe they can finally raise a generation of omegas for whom heat isn’t a terrifying, scarring concept.

Maybe, the better future can start now.


End file.
